If you can’t make serotonin, store bought is fine

The recipe of antidepressant stigma

Ingredients:

Misconceptions- 3 cups

Media influence- ½ tbsp

Blame- 2 tsp

Ingredients lists aside, medications designed to treat mental illness get a bad rap. No one questions a diabetic taking insulin, or an old person with arthritis taking pain medicine. They aren’t expected to navigate their conditions on their own. Why is it any different to treat an equally chronic mental condition, like depression or anxiety?

It can feel really embarrassing to admit you need a drug to feel emotionally normal. People want to believe that there’s a simple answer, that you can just control your emotions like everyone else. This just isn’t true — it has been said time and time again that mental illness comes down to chemicals. You’re not at fault for not having a fully functional laboratory in your head.

People think it’s lazy to need medication

Somewhere along the line, someone decided it was shameful to need meds to get you out of bed in the morning. They think you should just have some self-discipline. The reality of mental illness is that the lack of good chemicals kills the motivation necessary to want to do…